Welcome back to AVQ&A, where we throw out a question for discussion among the staff and readers. Consider this a prompt to compare notes on your interface with pop culture, to reveal your embarrassing tastes and experiences, and to ponder how our diverse lives all led us to convene here together. Got a question you’d…

Rarely can a film’s video game adaptation say it improved upon the film from which it drew inspiration, but the 1989 Game Boy version of Robocop, Paul Verhoeven’s ultra-violent genre classic, has at least one thing on its source material: An unforgettable theme song. No shade to Basil Poledouris’ score, but the game’s…

Finally, it seems the scientific community has stopped wasting everybody’s time and used their collective brain power to answer important questions, like whether it’s worth it to watch the sequel to a movie you like or read the next installment of a book series you’re only half invested in. These questions have…

The world’s first robotic cop has joined the Dubai police. According to Reuters, the automated officer was built by a Barcelona-based robotics company and is part of a government program to supplement all its lazy, sleepy, illness-prone human cops with machines that look like a training dummy mounted to the top of a…

We’re only halfway through Hulu’s unofficial Karate Month celebration, and the streaming service has already announced the new titles you’ll be able to stream in April. Sadly, there isn’t as much of a clear theme as there was for March, but Hulu is getting the premiere of the highly anticipated adaptation of Margaret…

Yesterday, Donald Trump signed three new executive orders designed to take a hard stance on crime. While they contained very little in the way of substantive new policy, they were couched in what has become his standard postapocalyptic rhetoric about our country’s rising crime rates, which is, itself, a classic…

According to Deadline, actor Miguel Ferrer—probably best known to A.V. Club readers for his work on Twin Peaks, though he also had prominent roles on NCIS: Los Angeles, Crossing Jordan, and in RoboCop—has died today after a battle with cancer. He was 61.

The word “normalize” has gotten a lot of mileage in the past couple months, thanks to the rise of a racist, sexist, xenophobic reality star to the presidency of the country. The media’s “gotta hear both sides” mentality toward his alt-right supporters has been called an agent of normalization for once-radical…

Paul Verhoeven’s RoboCop contains lots of over-the-top violence, from pre-cyborg police officer Murphy getting his hand shot off to a volunteer getting ripped apart by bullets during a robot demonstration. But the scene that has made a lasting impression on viewers, a scene that has likely prompted thousands of heated…

Starz isn’t always part of our monthly streaming roundups, but it’s impossible to ignore it when a network becomes home to one of the biggest movies of all time. HBO will probably be showing off some fine stuff in September, but only Starz will have a little film called Star Wars: Episode VII—The Force Awakens. Even…

One of the most repeated quotes in Hollywood history, a witticism sometimes falsely attributed to movie mogul Samuel Goldwyn, goes like this: “If you want to send a message, call Western Union.” Whoever said it, be it Moss Hart or Humphrey Bogart, the idea behind the quote is that the cinema is no place for preachy…

Late last summer, French filmmaker Antonio Da Silva caused a viral sensation with his short film Hell’s Club, an incredibly ornate and brilliantly edited movie mashup that gleefully transcended time, space, and genre to bring seemingly every memorable badass in movie history together in one place. Da Silva’s film…

The term “Mexican standoff” seems loaded with ethnic issues, and its origins in the 19th century certainly don’t help make it any less problematic (although, curiously, one source claims that it is Australian in origin). However issue-laden the term may be, it has long been a staple in films that need to ratchet up…

A loving tribute to VHS and ’80s aesthetics, the music video for Gunship’s “Tech Noir” is a stop-motion tale of a post-apocalyptic world where the video cassette reigns supreme. Opening with a narration by John Carpenter, the video was directed by Lee Hardcastle who gets to throw in his very best gruesome effects once…

Howdy. Senior Writer Jason Heller here. The A.V. Club’s monthly sci-fi film series, Science Friction, continues tonight at 7:30 at Alamo Drafthouse Denver with The Adventures Of Buckaroo Banzai Across The 8th Dimension! Released in 1984 and directed by W. D. Richter (Invasion Of The Body Snatchers), this gonzo sci-fi…

Boston Strong, the movie about the manhunt for the 2013 Boston Marathon bombers, has been through some ups and downs during its time in development. First, son of Beantown Casey Affleck signed on to star in and produce the movie, but his deal fell through. 20th Century Fox, fearful that the bombing might be lost to…